


Your Happy Ending May Not be What You Expect

by kafuka



Category: Ever After High
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, But only a little, F/F, Feelings, Internalized Homophobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-16
Updated: 2016-12-16
Packaged: 2018-09-08 22:22:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8865589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kafuka/pseuds/kafuka
Summary: Apple deals with different kinds of guilt after the Evil Queen's return to Ever After High.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [EvilMuffins](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EvilMuffins/gifts).



> Hope you enjoy, EvilMuffins!

 

  
_"Your happy ending may not be what you expect,  
but that is what will make it so special."_  
\- Once Upon A Time

***

Apple fingers ached from typing so much, so fast, so long. She flexed them above her keyboard, listening to her joints crack. Her paper was finally done. She withdrew her hands, sat back in her chair and rubbed her eyes behind her glasses. She glanced at the clock on the corner of the screen and saw it was much later than she anticipated. It wasn’t unusual for her to stay up late to finish assignments, but these days it felt she was pushing it further and further. Anything to keep from thinking about recent events. Or worse, dreaming about them.

Pushing back from her desk, Apple closed her laptop and stood up quietly, being considerate of Raven who was asleep just a few feet away. She crossed the room to their en suite, clicked the door shut, and turned on the light.

Apple leaned over the sink and peered in the mirror. She ran a hand through her hair and felt it hit something solid halfway through. She dug further and pulled out a pencil that she remembered lodging behind her ear hours ago. “Oh, there you are.” She placed it on the sink with her glasses and began cleaning up for the night.

Now that her mind was unoccupied, her thoughts drifted to Ever After High’s recent takeover by the Evil Queen. Sure, it was almost old news, what with Crystal Winter showing up almost immediately afterward and bringing a snow storm of trouble with her, but she couldn’t blame Crystal. She was Briar and Ashlynn’s good friend after all, and Apple had hardly been a prime example of how princesses were supposed to act recently.

Apple rubbed circles on her face, working in the foamy cleanser and stared dead ahead at her reflection. She felt like she was always staring down mirrors these days, wondering if Raven’s mother would suddenly surface from behind them, smiling wickedly in an attempt to frighten her, to manipulate her into setting her free again.

No one blamed Apple for freeing the Evil Queen. It wasn’t her intention after all, and when all of the choking on a poisoned apple and being brought back to life was over, people mostly just felt bad for her. She had been manipulated and poisoned by the same evil woman hellbent on trying to rule Ever After. To the Queen, Apple was a pawn, just like Fayebelle, just like Raven, just like all of them.

But Apple felt the guilt anyway. The guilt of letting the Evil Queen out. Of not telling anyone and attempting to keep the situation under control. She was scared of Raven’s mom, sure, but she was more scared of being seen as a failure, of messing up her destiny and everyone else’s, of needing help with a problem when she was the one who caused it. Apple rinsed her face, trying to pretend she was rinsing some of the guilt away with it. It was something she read about in a Psychofairapy book, making mental tasks easier by mimicking them in real life. It didn’t help.

And then there was the guilt that Apple tried to bury the deepest: the feelings that rose up in her dreams once the nightmares about the Evil Queen and all of Ever After disowning her passed. The way the magic tingled against her lips when Darling kissed her, noticeable even on the other side of consciousness. The way she felt when Darling showed up in her dreams and kissed her again, ran her fingers through her hair, or did other things Apple didn’t dare think about when she was awake. The guilt that bubbled to the surface when she remembered that in her fairy tale she was promised to a prince, not a princess, even if her last name was “Charming.”

Apple finished rinsing her face and moved on to brushing and flossing. She looked herself in the eyes, willing her mind to focus on something else: the bags under her eyes; her messy hair; how blotchy her skin was. It seemed she looked less and less like a princess everyday.

What would the world think if they found out Apple White, daughter of Snow White, and future queen of Ever After, had feelings for a girl? How would she continue the line of fairytales? How would she have a daughter to hand down the legacy?

It was true she and Daring were never official, but she figured her lack of interest would change eventually, once Daring matured and got over himself. Of course, Daring might never have been her prince after all. It was all just an assumption made based on their ages and the need to fill in the assigned rolls. But Daring had never seen his destiny in the Storybook of Legends, and he’d become a beast. And the only other Charming of the correct age was Dexter.

And Darling, too, Apple’s mind whispered, but she hushed it by yanking particularly hard on the floss she had shoved between molars. Her eyes watered as she dislodged it and threw it away. She was ready for bed.

Apple left the en suite and crossed the room to her bed. She crawled under the covers and pulled them up over her head. She told herself to think of anything but Darling as she drifted off. _Anything_ , she thought. _Think of school work. Think of Princessology… Kingdom Management… Chemythstry…_

***

Alone in the forest, Apple was lost. She never strayed from the path, but some shining apples lodged high in a tree just a few feet away had caught her eye, and before she knew it, the path was gone.

“Briar? Ashlynn?” She tried calling out to her friends, hoping they were still nearby and could hear her. “Raven? Anyone?”

“I’m here,” said a voice.

Apple whipped around and Darling stood there. She wore an outfit much too thin for the cold forest night, but she didn’t seem uncomfortable. She smiled shyly, but Apple could tell she was restraining herself, trying not to grin happily. Apple felt her face try to do the same, but she forced her mouth into a firm line.

“Darling, what are you doing here?”

Darling’s shy smile widened. “Looking for you.”

She held out a hand to Apple and walked closer. Apple froze, unsure of what to do. “Why were you looking for me?”

Darling reached where Apple stood under the tree and took her hand. “Do I need a reason to want to be around you?”

“I guess not.” Darling’s hand was cold and smooth against Apple’s palm. Apple could feel herself wanting to smile again and had a much harder time of hiding it.

Darling slid her hand into Apple’s curls, twisting them around her fingers and brushing them against Apple’s rosy cheeks. “An apple under a tree. You look so perfect here, but… you look perfect anywhere.”

Apple’s cheeks burned and she finally let her grin lose. “Darling…”

“Yes?” Darling leaned closer. Her hand slid to Apple’s warm cheek, then down her neck and rested on her collarbone.

“Can we…?” Apple started, her eyes focusing on Darling’s mouth.

“Yes,” Darling said, brushing her lips against the corner of Apple’s mouth. “Whatever you want, Princess.”

“Whatever I want…” Apple parroted. She tilted her neck back as Darling’s lips found their way down her jaw and neck, her head knocking lightly into the tree trunk. Apple shivered as Darling’s lips travelled further past her collarbone. “Darling…”

“Yes, Princess?” Darling asked against her skin.

“I want… I want you, Darling,” Apple said, feeling her thighs tremble.

“Yes, Princess,” Darling giggled against Apple’s skin and Apple moaned. “As you wish.”

Apple bit her lip and tangled her hands in Darling’s hair. She felt… she felt…

***

Apple bolted upright as the alarm on her Mirror Phone began to bleat. She could hear Raven moving around in the bathroom. Apple rubbed her eyes a little too hard. This was not at all how she hoped her night would go.

“You up, Apple?” Raven called from the bathroom.

“Yes,” Apple said, “I’m up.”

“Good. Are you okay?” Raven stuck her head out of the bathroom door. She was wearing a towel around her torso and hair.

Apple felt a little stunned. “Um, yes?”

“Okay,” Raven said eyeing her in disbelief. “You were just making a lot of noise in your sleep. It woke me up. Sounded like a nightmare, maybe?”

“O-oh,” Apple said, sliding out of bed and avoiding Raven’s gaze. “I’m sorry I woke you. But yeah, just, you know, going to class and forgetting I had a test. That sort of thing.”

Raven frowned, though Apple couldn’t see her. She’d run to hide behind her armoire door, busily pulling out possible outfits for the day. “If you say so,” Raven said. “Maybe you need to stay up late less? I think you’re stressing yourself out staying up and working into the small hours of the night.”

“You’re probably right,” Apple said, hurrying to agree to try and end the conversation. Her face was as red as her namesake. “Just, you know, exams coming up and all.”

“In a month, Apple.” Raven watched Apple’s legs move around from behind her armoire. “Well, if you need anything, let me know, alright?”

“Alright,” Apple agreed quickly, but her busy hands came to a halt. “Raven?”

“Yeah?” Raven said, unwinding the towel from her head and leaning over to scrub out the excess water.

“What do you do when you can’t get something off your mind?”

Raven wound the towel around the ends of her hair and squeezed. “What do you mean? Like a when you have a song stuck in your head?”

“Uh, no,” Apple said, sliding a shirt on over her head. “Like something that’s been weighing on you?”

Raven stopped squeezing, turning back to the armoire door. Apple was stepping into a skirt. “Hm, I guess I’d talk to someone about it? See if they can offer me perspective? That sort of thing.”

“Right,” Apple said distractedly, fastening her skirt. “Right, that makes sense…”

“Do you want to talk about something, Apple?” Raven asked.

Apple was silent and she riffled through her tights for a pair that matched her outfit. “I’m not sure what I need to do is talk.”

“Oh,” Raven said. “What do you think you need to do?”

Apple closed the armoire door and Raven saw she was dressed almost entirely in brilliant scarlet. “I think maybe it’s time to do something instead.”

***

Apple sent the hext in her first period Princessology class. She wasn’t usually the type to hext in class, but Darling was just a few seats away, and Apple was interested in seeing her reaction. Although she watched her closely through the entire period, Darling didn’t check her phone, and Apple left feeling slightly disappointed.

Darling’s reply came after lunch. Apple was doing her best to pay attention in Chemythtry when she felt her phone vibrate against her hip. She pulled it out discreetly and caught the message on the screen before it went blank: “Sure, see you then.”

Apple smiled and slipped her phone back into her pocket.

***

It was a half hour until the thorns grew around the dorm walls to keep the students of Ever After High inside. Apple sat stick straight on a white stone bench just inside the Enchanted Forest. She tried not to check the time on her Mirror Phone too often. She’d arrived ten minutes early, and that was after pacing around her dorm room for two hours, rehearsing what she planned to say in her head. Occasionally she would stop pacing and get lost in thought, like what Darling might be wearing or what her hair would look like in the moonlight. And then she’d start right back up again and continue trying to wear a groove in the floor. Thank goodness Raven was out of the room that night or she would have certainly thought Apple had lost her mind.

Apple twisted her fingers nervously, glancing to the side every few seconds, trying to figure out from what angle Darling would approach. She settled on watching the entrance of the school, trying not to let her thoughts drift too far from reality.

A twig snapped behind her and Apple spun around to see… nothing. Her pupils blown wide, she stared into the rapidly darkening forest, expecting to see a wild, magical animal emerge, but nothing came. She released the breath she’d been holding and turned back to watch the school. Darling was a few minutes late now. She did understand Apple meant tonight, right?

Fumbling around in her pocket trying to locate her phone, Apple missed the next snapping twig sound and let out a small shriek when a sudden rustling from above resulted in Darling dropped down from a tree to her left.

“Darling!” She practically squealed, dropping her phone. “I-I didn’t expect you to come from there!”

Darling laughed at Apple’s shocked face and strange exclamation. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I figured since you wanted to meet in the woods I would do a little sightseeing before then. Here.” Darling reached into her bag and produced a shiny, red apple not unlike the ones Apple saw in her dream the previous night. She blushed scarlet and accepted the fruit from Darling.

“Thank you,…” Apple moved over on the bench and let Darling take a seat.

“So what did you want to talk about?” Darling asked, settling in.

“Well…” Apple began, rolling the fruit around in her hands. “It’s about the Evil Queen…”

Darling’s eyes hardened. “Is she back? Is she threatening you?”

“What? No!” Apple yelped, nearly dropping the apple. She caught it and set it down the edge of the bench. “No, I promise she’s not trying to manipulate me anymore.”

“I’m glad to hear it.” Darling said with a genuine smile that made Apple’s stomach ache.

“Yeah…” Apple said, looking down at her clenched hands. “I meant more like what happened during all that… in the forest, when I was choking…”

“Okay.” Darling said, tilting her head to the side.

“And you were the one who figured it out and saved me.” Apple tried again.

Darling nodded, prompting Apple to continue. Apple could feel her face heating up, but was powerless to stop it.

“Well, it’s just that… Daring couldn’t do it. His kiss, I mean. It couldn’t wake me. And I… I’m really confused.”

“Confused about what?” Darling reached out and put her hand over Apple’s, and it took all of Apple’s strength not to immediately flinch and pull away.

“About… about why!” Apple felt her eyes fill with tears and squeezed them shut. “I’ve lived my whole life thinking Daring was my prince! That he would be the one to wake me when I ate the poisoned apple and fulfilled my destiny! And at first, after I heard what happened, I thought, okay, so Daring isn’t my prince. So what? But someone else woke me, and they were my prince! And I had to find out who! I felt the magic, Darling! I felt the magic in my sleep, the magic of true love’s kiss! And I… I…” Apple stopped, a sob ripping through her. She buried her face in her hands and cried, afraid and embarrassed about what she had practically admitted to Darling.

Darling didn’t hesitate to pull Apple into her arms and let her cry on her poofy sleeves. She brushed her fingers through Apple’s hair, and Apple tried not to think about the many times she’d dreamt of the same thing. She really couldn’t handle another layer of embarrassment over the ones she already felt.

Darling waited until Apple quieted before trying to fill in the blank of her last hanging thought. “And you don’t understand why it was me who woke you and not Daring.”

Apple sniffed softly against Darling’s shoulder. “Yes,” she admitted, feeling the guilt rush back. “I-I don’t want you to think--”

“Apple, wait,” Darling said. She placed her hand on Apple’s shoulders and gently pushed her back so she could look at her. Apple averted her eyes anyway. “I don’t know, myself. I can’t answer your question. All I know is that I’m better at CPR than Daring is. I was able to get you to spit out that piece of apple caught in your throat.”

Apple’s cheeks burned as she continued to look at the ground. Oh, no. Oh, no….

“But… I can’t tell you about the spark either, or why it was there.”

Apple snapped to attention. “You… you felt it too?” She asked, her hands inching towards her mouth in shock.

Darling smiled. “Yes. I did.”

Apple’s hands bypassed her mouth and wound into her hair. “Then… then why didn’t you say anything?!” She very nearly yelled. “I’ve been pulling my hair about it for months!”

Darling laughed and dropped her arms from Apple’s shoulders. “I didn’t want to rush you. I figured you had a lot to think about.”

“Oh my Grimm,” Apple said, covering her mouth with her hands. She felt tears leaking from her eyes again, but they were accompanied by a grin she was trying to hide. “I just thought… Well, you’re not a prince, you know?”

Darling laughed at that. “Only because of semantics. I’m braver than both of my brothers combined.”

Apple huffed a laugh around her tears. “You’re not wrong.”

They smiled at one another for a moment, and then Apple folded her hands and looked down. “So what does this mean? Are you my prince? Are you a part of my destiny?”

Darling shrugged. “Maybe? Since I started going to school here, I feel like it’s been proven over and over than destiny can be murky on the details.”

Apple nodded. “But will… will it work? If we’re both… girls?”

“I don’t see why not,” Darling said. “I don’t think there’s any gender monopoly on saving people from evil. At least, I never thought so. And the fairytale Headmaster Grimm says I’m a part of might not be the right one for me either. Us Charmings tend to have widely varying destinies, if any at all.”

“There are a lot of you.” Apple agreed.

“There are,” Darling said. She smiled and reached over to take Apple’s hand in her’s. “I know you want your destiny, Apple. But here and now, we don’t know what’s going to happen. We don’t have the Storybook of Legends anymore. And you’ve already lived through a big part of your fairytale. I feel like destiny’s a little more suggestible these days.”

“Yeah,” Apple said, turning the phrase over in her mind. “That’s a good way to put it.”

“So, we’ll just… let things happen, then? See where this-” she squeezed Apple’s hand- “takes us?”

Apple gave a gentle squeeze back and let the smile she’d been hiding envelope her. “Yes. I think that’s a great suggestion.”


End file.
